Proposed psychiatric hospital faces hurdles

A bid to build a psychiatric hospital on Expo Parkway faces a heated public hearing before the Sacramento City Council Dec. 2.

The 120-bed hospital proposed by Signature Healthcare Services Inc. quietly sailed through initial stages of the approval process last summer.

Now county officials question the need, neighbors worry about their quality of life, and information has surfaced about fines and legal action against the company for illegal billing and substandard care.

“It’s become controversial,” senior planner Lindsey Alagozian said. The public hearing, initially scheduled for Sept. 10, was delayed at the company’s request, she said. Signature has agreed to some new conditions on its proposed development agreement to make it more palatable to neighbors and faces other conditions as well.

“We have been doing a lot of listening,” said Ryan Hooper, a Sacramento lawyer who represents Corona-based Signature. “We have, in fact, proposed some of our own conditions.”

Signature, which does business as Aurora Behavioral Healthcare, has eight facilities, including one that recently opened in Santa Rosa. The company wants to build a high-end private hospital that will primarily provide stabilization and short-term psychiatric treatment.

The Sacramento region needs inpatient psychiatric beds, and development at 1400 Expo Parkway will boost a blighted area, generate tax revenue and bring more than 200 new jobs to the region, according to Hooper.

Others question the need.

There are three inpatient psychiatric hospitals in the region: Sutter Center for Psychiatry, Heritage Oaks and Sierra Vista. Two 16-bed psychiatric health facilities also provide inpatient care, and Sacramento County operates its own mental health treatment center on Stockton Boulevard.

“We remain concerned about the need for a facility of this type in Sacramento County, where more than one-third of the inpatient psychiatric beds in private hospitals are already filled with out-of-county residents,” county community development director Lori Moss states in a Nov. 19 letter to city community development director Max Fernandez. “It is our preference that the proposed project not be permitted here.”

Residents of the Woodlake area of Sacramento have their own concerns.

“We’ve successfully notified the neighbors, and there’s an overwhelming opposition to the project for a variety of reasons,” said Jane Macaulay, a Woodlake resident who’s taking the lead on organizing the neighborhood. “So much has already been dumped here. We have extra cops because of the Light Rail station. There’s a little liquor store, a recycling center and a casino. We’re just inundated.”

Research on Signature is coming to light and “the reputation of this company is not good,” Macaulay said.

Sacramento News & Review and the Los Angeles Times have detailed legal and regulatory action related to questionable patient deaths, a patient-privacy lawsuit and incidents that prompted regulatory action or government fines.

A federal whistle-blower lawsuit filed in 2010 by an employee at Aurora Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena alleges false federal billings for what was minimal, substandard care. It also alleges “dangerous staffing ratios, employees injuries and patient deaths,” according to court documents.

“Unfortunately, we’ve been the victim of a disgruntled employee,” said Hooper, contending that most allegations have been dismissed.

Concerns will be aired Dec. 2. But if the city goes for the project, the county recommends that the company be required to:

• Sign a patient intake contract with the county on the same terms as the county contracts with Heritage Oaks, Sierra Vista and Sutter Center for Psychiatry.

• Provide transportation for all patients to their homes or a follow-up facility and ensure appropriate continuity of care.

• Participate in local education efforts or programming to expand the psychiatric and clinical workforce in the county.

• Reimburse the county for ancillary costs related to certification hearings and other legal proceedings related to inpatient psychiatric care.

• Provide at least $25,000 annually to the American River Parkway Foundation to help with cleanup efforts near the proposed facility.